Cattle keepers who fled into Mundri County, Western Equatoria state, have been given until 9th of February to move their animals away from the county.
Cattle keepers who fled into Mundri County, Western Equatoria state, have been given until 9th of February to move their animals away from the county.
The presence of the herders from Jonglei, Lakes and Central Equatoria states has been causing tensions with local farming communities in Western Equatoria state.
A conference called to address the issue last week agreed on the ultimatum as part of resolutions to ease the tensions. A similar deadline was given to the herders in July last year but it wasn’t effected.
Western Equatoria state governor Bangasi Joseph Bakasoro is confident that this resolution will be effective.
“This time I think we are going to be vigilant and make sure that the cows move to their locations and in case they want to bring them for business, then let it be in an official way. The problem is there are some individuals who loot cattle in the other states and come and hide them in our state, and they come and cause us trouble,” he said.
He added that it was his hope that the resolution will be implemented and that the monitoring team will oversee the movement of the cows back to where they came from.
‘The whole state, especially greater Mundri, will be at peace,” he said.
The conferenc formed a monitoring team from both states that will be monitoring the movement of cattle.
The conference was also told of differences between the Dinka community and the governor, who was accused of using inciting language by calling Dinkas “snakes”. He was said to have said that the young people of Moro had allowed snakes to enter into their houses and were waiting for the governor to come all the way from Yambio to kill the snakes. The statement was condemned by many leaders.
Meanwhile, as the dry season sets in, representatives from the Dinka Malual and Misseriya communities of Northern Bahr el Gazal state have expressed their commitment to support a peaceful migration of Rizeigat nomads from Eastern Darfur into Dinka Malual local lands.
This commitment was announced during the opening of a three-day pre-migration conference in Nyamlel town of Aweil West County, Northern Bahr El- Ghazal state.
The deputy paramount chief and head of the Rizeigat delegation, Mohamed Banani, stressed the need of maintaining a peaceful co-existence between the Rizeigat and Dinka Malual communities at the borders.
“What we want to emphasize is our commitment to this relationship and the evidence to our commitment to this is that, we and our Dinka Malual relatives, adhere to organize a conference every year, not because we want to renew the relationship but to basically confirm this relationship,” he said.
The paramount chief of Greater Gomjueer Area of Aweil West County, Dut Majak Majak noted the commitment of the Rizeigat delegation, which made a long trip for the interest of peace.
“We thank them because they come from long distances. If they were not people who stand for peace, they would not have come up to this place, this is because they are the people of peace. Let us endure the difficulties and go ahead with peace,” he said.
Pre-migration conferences are held between December and January every year to review the previous agreements signed between the Dinka Malual of Northern Bahr el Ghazal and the Rizeigat of Eastern Darfur state.
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